Digital Possessions, Extrinsic Aspirations, and the Role of Gender

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of extrinsic aspirations (i.e. materialistic) and gender on value ascribed to digital possessions. Another aim of this paper is to examine the mediating role of self-extension tendency in these relationships. It is found that females have higher levels of emotion associated with their favorite digital possessions compared to males. The findings show that the effect of extrinsic aspirations on value ascribed to digital possessions is dependent on gender. It is found that females having higher scores in extrinsic aspirations had higher willingness to pay for the digital good compared to those having lower scores in extrinsic aspirations. Self-extension tendency mediated the value ascribed to the good. These effects are not valid for males. Under high levels of extrinsic aspirations, female consumers value the digital good more than male consumers. Under low levels of extrinsic aspirations, male consumers value the digital good more than female consumers. 

Keywords

• Digital Possessions
• Extrinsic Aspirations
• Gender

Dijital varlıklar, dışsal istekler ve cinsiyetin rolü

Abstract

Bu makale, dışsal isteklerin ve cinsiyetin dijital varlıklara verilen değere etkisini incelemektedir. Bu makalenin diğer bir amacı da bu ilişkide öz-uzanım eğiliminin arabulucu etkilerini incelemektir. Bulgular, dışsal isteklerin (materyalist) dijital varlıklara verilen değere etkisinin cinsiyete bağlı olduğunu göstermektedir. Kadınlar, sevdikleri dijital varlıklara karşı daha fazla hisler beslemektedirler. Dışsal istek puanları yüksek olan kadınların puanları düşük olanlara göre dijital ürün için ödeme isteklerinin daha fazla olduğu bulunmuştur. Öz-uzanım eğilimi, ürüne atfedilen değerin ara bulucusudur. Bu etkiler erkekler için geçerli değildir. Dışsal istekler yüksek düzeylerdeyse kadın tüketiciler dijital ürüne erkek tüketicilerden daha fazla değer atfetmektedirler. Dışsal istekler düşük düzeylerdeyse, erkek tüketiciler dijital ürüne kadınlara göre daha fazla değer atfetmektedirler.

Keywords

• Dijital varlıklar
• Dışsal istekler
• Cinsiyet

References

1. Aiken L. & West S. (1991). Multiple Regression: Testing and Interpreting Interactions. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
2. Atasoy, O., & Morewedge, C. K. (In Press). Digital Goods Are Valued Less Than Physical Goods. Journal of Consumer Research, ucx102, https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucx102
3. Ball, A. D. & Tasaki, L. H. (1992). The Role and Measurement of Attachment in Consumer Behavior. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 1(2), 155-172.
4. Bardhi, F. & Eckhardt, G. M. (2012). Access-Based Consumption: The Case of Car Sharing. Journal of Consumer Research, 39(4), 881-898.
5. Bardhi, F. & Eckhardt, G. M. (2017). Liquid Consumption. Journal of Consumer Research, 44(3), 582-597.
6. Belk, R. W. (1984). Three Scales to Measure Constructs Related to Materialism: Reliability, Validity, and Relationships to Measures of Happiness. In T. Kinear (Ed.), Advances in Consumer Research. Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research, 291-297.
7. Belk, R. W. (1985). Materialism: Trait Aspects of Living in the Material World. Journal of Consumer Research, 12(3), 265-280.
8. Belk, R. W. (1988). Possessions and the Extended Self. Journal of Consumer Research, 15 (September), 139-168.

9. Belk, R. W. (2010). Sharing. Journal of Consumer Research, 36(5), 715–34.
10. Belk, R. W. (2013). Extended Self in a Digital World. Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 40, 477-500.
11. Belk, R. W. (2014). Digital Consumption and the Extended Self. Journal of Marketing Management, 30(11-12), 1101-1118.
12. Cleveland, M., Laroche, M., & Papadopoulos, N. (2009). Cosmopolitanism, Consumer Ethnocentrism, and Materialism: An Eight-country Study of Antecedents and Outcomes. Journal of International Marketing, 17, 116 -146.
13. Csikszentmihalyi, M., & Rochberg-Halton, E. (1981). The Meaning of Things: Domestic Symbols and the Self. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
14. Denegri-Knott, J., Watkins, R., & Wood, J. (2012). Transforming Digital Virtual Goods into Meaningful Possessions. Digital Virtual Consumption, Vol. 23, In ed. Molesworth, M. and Denegri-Knott, J., Oxford: Routledge, 76-91.
15. Dingus, R. (2014). Like It, Love It, or Gotta Have It: Relating Materialism and Attachment. Atlantic Marketing Journal, 3(3), 38-47.
16. Dittmar, H. (1989). Gender Identity-related Meanings of Personal Possessions. British Journal of Social Psychology, 28, 159-171.
17. Dittmar, H. (1991). Meanings of Material Possessions as Reflections of Identity: Gender and Social-material Position in Society. In F. W. Rudmin (Ed.), To have possessions: A handbook on ownership and property. Special Issue of Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 6(6), 165-186.
18. Dittmar, H., Beattie, J., & Friese, S. (1995). Gender Identity and Material Symbols: Objects and Decision Considerations in Impulse Purchases. Journal of Economic Psychology, 15, 391-511.
19. Dittmar, H., Beattie, J., & Friese, S. (1996). Objects, Decision Considerations and Self-image in Men’s and Women’s Impulse Purchases. Acta Psychologica, 93, 187–206.
20. Ferraro, R., Escalas, J. E., & Bettman, J. R. (2011). Our Possessions, Our Selves: Domains of Self-worth and the Possession-self Link. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 21(2), 169-177.
21. Fitzsimons G.J. (2008). Death to Dichotomizing. Journal of Consumer Research, 35(1), 5–8 (Editorial). Goldsmith, R. E., Flynn, L. R., & Clark, R. A. (2011). Materialism and Brand Engagement as Shopping Motivations. Journal of Retailing & Consumer Services, 18(4), 278–284.
22. Greengard, S. (2012). Digitally Possessed. Communications of the ACM, 55(5), 14-16.
23. Hayes, A. F. (2013). An Introduction to Mediation, Moderation, and Conditional Process Analysis. New York: The Guilford Press.
24. Kamptner, N. L. (1991). Personal Possessions and Their Meanings: A Life Span Perspective. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 6, 209–228.
25. Kasser, T. & Ryan, R. M. (1996). Further Examining the American Dream: Differential Correlates of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Goals. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22, 280-287.
26. Kasser, T. & Ryan, R. M. (2001). Be Careful What You Wish For: Optimal Functioning and the Relative Attainment of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Goals. In: P. Schmuck & K. Sheldon (Eds.), Life Goals and Well-Being, Göttingen, Hogrefe, 116-131.
27. Kasser, T., 2002. The High Price of Materialism, Cambridge, MA. The MIT Press.
28. Kasser, T. (2018). Aspiration Index. Accessed on January 24 2018. http://faculty.knox.edu/ tkasser/aspirations.html
29. Kleine, S. S. & Baker, S. M. (2004). An Integrative Review of Material Possession Attachment. Academy of Marketing Science Review, 8(4), www.amsreview.org/articles/kleine01-2004.pdf
30. Kirk, D. S. & Sellen, A. (2010). On Human Remains: Values and practice in the Home Archiving of Cherished Objects. Transactions on Human-Computer Interaction, 17, 1–43.
31. Nunnaly, J. C. & Bernstein, I. R. (1994). Psychometric Theory, (3rd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
32. Odom, W., Pierce, J., Stolterman, E., Blevis, E. (2009). Understanding Why We Preserve Some Things and Discard Others in the Context of Interaction Design. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI ’09, 1053–1062.
33. Odom, W., Zimmerman, J., & Forlizzi, J. (2011). Teenagers and Their Virtual Possessions: Design Opportunities and Issues. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM, 1491-1500.
34. Otero-López, J. M. & Villardefrancos, E. (2015). Compulsive Buying and Life Aspirations: An Analysis of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Goals. Personality and Individual Differences, 76, 166-170.
35. Richins, M. & Dawson, S. (1992). Materialism as a Consumer Value: Measure Development and Validation. Journal of Consumer Research, 19, 303-316.
36. Ryan, R. M. & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination Theory and the Facilitation of Intrinsic Motivation, Social Development, and Well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–78.
37. Schäfer, T., Sedlmeier, P., Städtler, C., & Huron, D. (2013). The Psychological Functions of Music Listening. Frontiers of Psychology, 4, 511.
38. Siddiqui, S. & Turley, D. (2006). Extending the Self in a Digital World, Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 33, ed. C. Pechmann and L. Price, Duluth, MN: Association for Consumer Research, 647–648.
39. Thielemann, S. (2001). The Spirituality of Music. A. P. H. Publishing Corporation, New Delhi.
40. Truong, Y., McColl, R., & Kitchen, P. J. (2010). Uncovering the Relationships between Aspirations and Luxury Brand Preference. Journal of Product and Brand Management 19 (2), 346–355.
41. Unanue W., Vignoles V. L., Dittmar H., & Vansteenkiste M. (2016). Life Goals Predict Environmental Behaviour: Cross-national, and Longitudinal Evidence from the UK, and Chile. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 46, 10–22.
42. Walasek, L., Matthews, W. J., & Rakow, T. (2015). The Need to Belong and the Value of Belongings: Does Ostracism Change the Subjective Value of Personal Possessions?. Journal of Behavioural and Experimental Economics, 58, 195-204.
43. Wallendorf, M. & Arnould, E. J. (1988). “My Favorite Things”: A Cross-cultural Inquiry into Object Attachment, Possessiveness, and Social Linkage. Journal of Consumer Research, 14, 531-547.
44. Watkins, R. & Molesworth, M. (2012). Attachment to Virtual Possessions in Videogames, in Research in Consumer Behavior, ed. R. Belk, S. Askegaard, and L. Scott, Vol. 14, Bingley: Emerald Group, 153–170.